The Buffalo Bills defense have lost some key pieces in the last couple of weeks, with injuries to Tre’Davious White, Da’Quan Jones, and Matt Milano resulting in various second- and third-string players seeing their snap counts vary at their expected and alternate positions.
The tinkering on the defensive front happens throughout an NFL season, as injuries are always possible. To lose multiple key pieces across all levels of the defense is unlikely, but sometimes it happens.
Sean McDermott, who took over defensive coordinator duties this offseason, had looked at different ways to line up and include his extremely talented defenders on the field and players that can make big plays to disrupt the offensive timing for throws and tackle running backs behind the line of scrimmage.
In Week 8, the Buffalo defense lined up in a unique formation with three safeties on occasion. ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky pointed out how the Bills lined up in this formation against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and how the formation allows for Buffalo’s talented safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde to both be on the field while having a third safety, Taylor Rapp, drop into the linebacker role during passing downs.
And the former NFL quarterback asked guest Ryan Clark for this thoughts on the new personnel during ESPN’s NFL Live program. Clark played 12 years as a safety in the NFL across various defensive schemes and formations, and definitely knows a thing or two about winning. The NFL veteran started as safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers for five years, including during the 2008 season when he won Super Bowl XLIII.
Clark also highlighted to Orlovsky that the defensive scheme seemed to be a game plan for the Buccaneers specifically, given their inability to run the football and reliance on quarterback Baker Mayfield to beat opponents through the air.
You can watch the full clip of Clark and Orlovsky analyzing the Bills’ defense here following a segment on the Bills’ offense by Orlovsky:
Loved @Realrclark25 response here to @BuffaloBills 3 safety defense#nfllive pic.twitter.com/MYxbPndU92
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) October 27, 2023